


Demon Prince's Talon

by Fangirlingbrony



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Dick Grayson is a Talon, F/M, Female Dick Grayson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-10-18 05:13:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10609971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlingbrony/pseuds/Fangirlingbrony
Summary: Ricky (Richard aka Dick) is taken in by batman after the death of her parents, but a year after he becomes robin he is kidnapped by the court of owls. Three years later the league of shadows attacks and kills the court of owls, Ricky is spared after she proves her loyalty to Damian.Female Talon Dick GraysonAged up DamianDamian Wayne/Fem Dick Grayson





	1. Memories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aniela Lewandowski](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Aniela+Lewandowski).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that in this chapter Ricky (Dick) is 15 years old.

It’s so cold.

It’s so dark.

I am laying in my coffin- the only thing I can call mine- staring at the closed cover. I don’t have to breathe due to the fact that I’m frozen. I’m still conscious because of the serum running through my veins.

This allows me to live for long periods of time without aging. Most people would consider this a blessing, but it’s not.

I am talon. The grey son of Gotham. Head of the talons. That’s what I am told and reminded of every time I leave the coffin. I am still young though, only three years into my training, but my great-grandfather says that I am expected to be the best out of all the talons.

I’ve belonged to the court of owls since I can remember –I can only remember the last three years- but I know I had a life outside the court, that the court weren’t always my masters, that I was more than just a tool. Sometimes I remember that time, a time when I wore bright colors and dresses, a time when I flew, a time when I laughed, a time when the sounds of bats was comforting.

But right now, right now I pray that something or someone would come and save me. Every passing hour that I am here I hope that the hazy people from my memories will come for me.

I honestly wasn’t expecting it to come true.


	2. Rescued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian is 13 in this chapter.

I heard noise coming from outside the room I was laying in. I stand up when I realize it’s the sound of fighting, I strap my twin swords to my back and place the belt of knives across my waist.

 

I was putting on my clawed gloves when the sounds of battle come near my metal door.

 

‘This is my chance to escape,’ I think as I get into a battle ready position. If the fight is going south they will have to open my door, I’ll fight and kill for them for a while in order to not seem suspicious and then I’ll let one of the invaders go pretending to play with them, they’ll end up leading me straight to the exit and I’ll be free.

 

I could make out the voices of the fighters outside, one was clearly a talon –he wasn’t making as much noise as the other- and the invader sounded young. Before I could think any further the locks of my door snapped open with a loud bang, but before I could go out and put my plan into action the door was pushed and a small black figure stepped in quickly closing the door on the talon’s arm.

 

This was much unexpected, the boy looked around her age at least in size since he was covered head to toe in an outfit that looked very much like hers but without the feather pattern of silver and gold.

 

It has been so long since I looked at another person close to my age, I don’t know how to react, but I heard the talon on the other side of the door walk away- most likely assuming I would finish the boy myself- so I looked back to the boy in front of me.

 

I was met with stormy blue eyes glaring at me, but I could also see some surprise hidden in them, clearly he had not expected there to be anyone as young as me behind the door; he got into a defensive position waiting for me to attack, but I didn’t, the court only brought me adults to kill, never children.

 

“Who are you?” he demanded.

 

“I am talon,” I responded emotionlessly.

 

“I can see that, who are you?” he asked again, clearly annoyed by my answer.

 

“My name is talon,” I said in the same emotionless voice. That answer seemed to please him.

 

“How long have you been here?”

 

“Three years.”

 

“Who were you before?”

 

“I don’t remember.”

 

“Are you loyal to the court?”

 

“no.” that answer seemed to please him a lot.

 

He told me about who he is and where he comes from, he promised I could go with him if I helped them take down the court of owls. I wasn’t sure if he would keep his promise, but I decided to believe him for now.

 

We went out and killed about 50 talons and 5 owls before we found the rest of Damian’s clan. They were in the main court with the head owls tied at the center, in front of him was a grown man whose presence demanded obedience and next to him was an attractive younger woman with long brown hair and blood covered clothes. They both turned towards us when we entered.

 

“Damian-!” the woman said before Damian cut her off.

 

“I know mother, she’s with me,” he said calmly.

 

They both looked slightly surprised at that, but the man smirked afterwards. He stepped forward.

 

“I assume this particular talon did not wish to follow the footsteps of those before her,” he asked even though it didn’t sound like it

 

“Yes,” I answered.

 

“Hm, well I’ve heard that talons are ferociously loyal creatures, how can I be certain you won’t double cross me in the future?” he asked.

 

“Allow me to prove myself to you then,” I answered. It looked as if he expected that.

 

“Kill her,” he said gesturing to the only female bound on the floor. I made my way towards her pulling one of the knives out of my belt.

 

“Don’t you dare!” she shrieked. There was a part of me that was still terrified of the punishment that came from disobedience, but I pushed forward knowing that if I did this one thing then I would be a step closer to getting out of here.

 

“Stop talon, I order you to stop and release us!” one of the men said and for a moment I did stop but pushed forward again.

 

Finally I stood before the woman and out of habit I said.

 

“Owl you have been sentenced to die” I said and quickly slit her throat.

 

I cleaned the knife on my pants and put the knife back in place, when I turned around Damian looked pleased and so did the man, the woman however looked as if though I was a puzzle she was trying to solve.

 

 “Hm, very well then,” said the man.


	3. Chapter 3

As it turns out the man was Ra’s Al Ghul and the woman was Talia Al Ghul, Damian’s grandfather and mother. They still didn’t trust me fully so they blindfolded me before we could get outside.

                                     

For the moment the only one of them I like is Damian, I don’t know what it is but something about him feels familiar somehow. We boarded a plane, here my blindfold was removed and sadly there were no windows. During the trip I was asked questions about the court: were there any more headquarters? How many talons were there? How do they chose their talons? How do they make their talons?

 

I was only able to answer the last two questions because they never told me anything. I told them that they had two ways to select talons: one of them was breeding their own from the talons there, but the main selection came from circuses or more specifically Haly’s circus. I told them what my great-grandfather told me, they selected me because I showed tremendous skill on the trapeze and because I had electrum in my veins; electrum is a component essential in the making of talons, and since I was born with it I was able to adapt to the talon serum much quicker.

 

To my surprise they seemed rather perturbed by the process of training a talon –I could only tell them my experience since I wasn’t sure if the rest of the talons were trained this way- and I wouldn’t blame them. The process was simple, lock a new candidate in the maze and leave them there until their sanity brakes and they can barely remember who they were, then inject the serum and afterwards it’s training. Training consisted of various years of being killed and killing in order to get used to it, I was gutted, impaled, beheaded, stabbed and I was also forced to do that to other people that were sentenced by the talons

 

Damian looked very angered by the whole process, I later learned that it was thanks to a careless talon that the court of owls was exposed to the league of shadows, they told me that they wanted to bring forth a new world and cleanse the earth of people like the owls.

 

When we arrived at our destination I was blindfolded again, the air felt warmer and humid. I heard the sound of large doors opening and closing, I could feel that we were walking on tiled floors now instead of soil.

 

‘Home sweet home I guess,’ I thought.

 

I was assigned headquarters that were heavily guarded- even though I don’t need rest- and I was informed of my new role here. I am to train in the ways of the league of shadows but not abandon my talon training completely, I am also supposed to train and protect Damian, I do not know why but I liked this idea very much.

 

I still couldn’t see the sky.

 

**Talia’s point of view**

That girl seems familiar, I assume I knew her before she was recruited after all I’m certain she didn’t have those glowing yellow eyes and black veins before. What I really don’t understand is why did Damian not kill her on site, and what was even more frustrating was why my father seemed at ease with this. After Damian and the talon leave I turn to my father but he already seems to know what I’m thinking.

 

“Worried about our new addition?” my father asked.

 

“I’m surprised you aren’t,” I said.

 

“There’s nothing to be worried about”

 

“She could betray us”

 

“She could, but she won’t”

 

I looked at him questioningly, he sighed and said.

 

“Owls are fiercely loyal creatures, but only if they are given a reason to be,” he explained. “This bird was abused and controlled and thus she defected from her kind, but I am confident that she will be more loyal tour cause or a certain person”

 

I realized what he was planning with that look, it was the same look he gave me and Bruce.

 

“I’m really surprised you didn’t become a match maker” I said smirking.

 

“You have to admit it would certainly create an appropriate heir after Damian perishes,” he said.

 

“I’ll admit they would make a cute couple.” I said contemplating the mysterious talon. “Father, does something about the talon seem familiar to you?”

 

“Whatever do you mean?” He said retiring for the night.

 

He’s hiding something, but what?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The league of shadows’ headquarters are located in ‘Infinity Island’, an island in the Caribbean Sea. It was there in young justice so I’m going with it.


	4. Running Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where things get good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian and Diana are going to be 17 and 18 by the end of this chapter, enjoy.

It's been years since I was allowed into the league of shadows, Damian has told me about what they stand for and why they do what they do. It seemed very honorable and it also seemed like they were doing the right thing. I agreed to train Damian in what I knew best, being invisible and flying, he and I have been becoming closer to one another considering I'm the only one his age, he even gave me a name: Diana. I soon learned that talons were not made for the day, the sun was too bright for my eyes, I had to rest during the day and train during the night.

 

It all seemed well until I started getting flashes, small memories from my days before the court. I didn't tell anybody since they were my memories, not theirs, but one day I was training Damian on the trapeze -Damian used this time training and talking since I was the only person he seemed to truly trust besides his mother and grandfather- he mentioned a name that I haven't heard in years, a name that I somehow forgot but would never truly forget the meaning of. In that moment I remembered everything: the circus, the fall, Tony Zucco,

 

Bruce, Alfred,  **Batman and Robin.**

 

**I** **was**   **Robin.** **I am Robin.**

 

Turns out I had  been unconscious throughout my discovery, because when I opened my eyes  there was a very concerned Damian standing over me -not that he'd ever admit that- and I quickly sat up and listened with my improved hearing if someone was near, when I was assured there wasn't anyone near I told Damian everything I remembered, including the fact that Batman was against the league of shadows,against killing and control and power over others.

 

At first he was skeptical and thought that I might be plotting something but the years we've spent together had made him keep my secret, I told him to access the files on his father if he didn't believe me, to investigate Ricky Grayson, Robin.

 

He did so on his own, he found the files on Robin and Batman but was blocked from figuring out if he was a threat or ally. That was all he needed, slowly we started to notice things, things that proved that the league of shadows were most certainly not the good guys and that we couldn't change that fact even if we tried. Damian and I decided that we could not stay here any longer, we were going to run. 

 

We had to wait a couple of years, enough for Damian to not need someone in his constant presence; during this time I answered his questions about batman whenever we were alone, I told him how Bruce was like, why he did what he did, why he never killed, why he chose bats as him theme. In times like these I could see that Damian wanted to meet him, we also started becoming closer than we were, we became a couple.

 

An opportunity presented itself after Damian's 17 birthday, he had informed his mother and grandfather that I was his beloved -which was the equivalent of telling them he wanted to marry me- and they were pleased, very pleased. It was a very simple but difficult plan to execute, on our wedding night we would sneak out of our room and into the harbor where we would sneak on a cargo-ship that was scheduled to leave the island and deliver special cargo to the mainland by dusk, then it was just a matter of sending Batman a message only he would understand.

 

We put our plan into action the minute the door closed we dressed in our black uniform and packed the rations we've been saving up for the past weeks: food, clothes and weapons. We left through a hole Damian cut in the roof since we were less likely to be seen from there and made our way towards the cargo bay, with my heightened senses and Damian's knowledge of the island we entered the bay and jumped onto the ship seconds before it left the docks, then we just hid in one of the cargo boxes and waited until we reached mainland. I was excited, finally I was truly free,  **we** were truly free, all we had to do was not get caught and contact Bruce, Bruce ........... what would he think of me? Did he think I was dead? Will he want me back after he figures out what I've done?

 

I couldn't think of that now, for now we would hide and then we will send the message, even if Bruce doesn't want me he won't ignore his son and his son is in love with me.

 

"Diana!" Damian hissed at me snapping me out of my thoughts. It sounded rough but I could hear the urgency and worry in his voice. "We're there?" I ask. "Yes, now come on," he said.

We sneaked out of the crate quietly and made our way towards the docks of the small town we were in. Thankfully we were able to evade every league member we came across but we had to hurry, it was close to morning and they would notice our absence by then, they would figure out that this was the transportation we used and come looking for us here, the most reasonable thing would be for us to steal a boat and head north because there is a big city there; we will steal a boat but we won't be on that boat. We grabbed a small boat that was full of gas and turned it on and watched it speed off into the distance, we tied the stick to the boat so it would only head north, afterwards we stole civilian clothes and made our way west.

 

We arrived at our destination by morning -the suburbs of a small city- and decided to rest in an abandoned house, I rested while Damian stood watch and I stood watch while he rested. We headed out again when it was close to sunset, this time of the day allowed me to be outside as long as I wore sunglasses, and went to a mall, at the mall we headed for a computer store and I quickly typed and sent an e-mail to Bruce -I decided to sent it to both his private e-mail and the batcave- and it said:

 

_Meet me in the San Mateo Church in Bluefields, Nicaragua, I need to talk to you._

_P.S.: miss me Bman?_

_Love, Ricky._

 

I am honestly nervous he won't show up, but he was never one to give up on family, he would check it out when he sees the name of his ward in that message specially since I sent that to the bat cave. He will show up, he has to otherwise the league will find us and .......... they won't care that Damian was the heir to Ra's Al Ghul, they will kill us.

 

We headed towards the church, we would stake out there until he showed up, that is literally the only option we have, we already risked too much by going to the store and the diversion we set up would only slow them down a little, Gotham is the only place that is safe for us because Batman constantly foils every operation there no matter how small. 

 

Damian and I are hiding in the bell tower, none of us can sleep. I can't because I'm afraid they'll kill Damian if I'mot there to hear them coming, and I'm sure he can't sleep because of how worried he is about batman accepting us, I've told him countless times that Bruce would never do that to him but it doesn't stop him from worrying. We just sit there waiting, at some point I grabbed his hand or he grabbed mine, until finally all of my worry washed away to make room for something I haven't felt in years, hope.

 

The small, black, bat shaped plane landed next to the Church and out came a tall, buff man in a bat costume. As soon as I saw the plane I pulled Damian to his feet pointing, he didn't see it until it was closer but the reaction was instant, we grabbed our packs and climbed down the outside of the church, he saw us but didn't make any move to attack since we were dressed like civilians.

 

I was suddenly at a loss of what to do, what to say...... how do I say it? But luckily he talked first.

 

"Who are you?" he asked.

 

"Do I really look that different Bruce?" I answered with a question of my own, even if I did know the answer.

 

"How do you know who I am?" he asked, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Damian couldn't hear it but I could, the slight waver in his voice, he was in pain. I hadn't realized how much my disappearance would have affected him, it would have been like his parents all over again, I decided to say something that would clear all the doubt away from his mind.

 

"Bruce it's me Ricky," I said walking closer to him. "I know I don't look like it, but I am, I am the girl you took in after her parents were murdered, I am the girl that would swing on the chandelier even though you told me not to because it felt so much like the trapeze, I am the girl that used to try and steal Alfred's cookies before dinner, I am the girl that thought it was a good idea to wear bright green shorts to a gun fight, It's me Bruce and I didn't leave because I wanted to, I was taken and turned into this and I'm sorry I didn't try to contact you sooner but-" I couldn't finish because I felt big, strong arms wrap around me.

 

"Only Ricky would know how to ramble on an emotional speech like that," he said.

 

"Seriously? That's what stands out?" I couldn't help but say and hug back.

 

Then I heard a loud throat clearing behind me, I turn to see Damian standing awkwardly from where I originally was so I let go of the hug and feel Bruce's reluctance to let me go, as if he was afraid I would disappear at any moment.

 

"um Bruce, I didn't just call you to tell you I was alive," I say looking up at him and gesturing Damian over. "we need your help, big time." I said remembering the severity of the situation. He seemed to notice, but he also noticed Damian that with no doubt looks a lot like Bruce, I cold see his eye lenses widen slightly.

 

"This is Damian, he's the son of Talia Al Ghul and Batman," I said bluntly. His eye lenses widened slightly further but before he could ask I intervened, really not being able to waste any more time. 

 

"We escaped the league of assassins last night, but we've been planning it ever since I got my memories back, we were able to lead them in the wrong direction but I'm not so sure for how long." I could tell he knew what I was asking.

 

"Are you sure?" he asked, but I could her the real question:  _Can he be trusted?_

 

"yes," I said.

 

"very well, get in but I expect a full explanation on the way," he said. I smiled and led Damian to the plane, I had to sit on his lap since there were only two seats but he didn't mind at all, on our way I told Bruce about Damian and our escape and the league, the rest could wait.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked this, sorry it took so long I was trying to figure out what to do with this.


	5. Home

I explained everything once we were back at the manor, both to Bruce and Alfred, Bruce was very upset to say the least. 

And as it turns out, Damian and I have a bigger family now, after I was kidnapped a lot of people joined the bat family: Barbara, Cass, and Stephanie were oracle, batwoman and batgirl and Bruce also passed down the mantle of Robin to Jason and Tim, though I already knew Jason existed, we helped him get out and he was really happy to see escaped to.

Right now, I’m in my old room, unpacking. Everything is just as I remember it and I love it. 

There was a knock at the door.

“Diana?” said Damian as he entered.

“Damian, is there something wrong?” I asked noticing his tense posture.

“No, no it’s weird but I’m fine,” he said, “how are you holding up?”

“Perfectly fine,” I said, “you don’t have to worry about me all the time.”

“That’s my job beloved.”

I sat on the bed and patted the space next to me, he sat down and I immediately started to cuddle him, man he was cuddly.

“I was thinking,” I said, “we are going to be staying here from now on.”

“Obviously,” scoffed Damian.

“Oh hush,” I said in a scolding tone, “anyway, we are going to have to help where we can.”

“You thinking about fighting crime again,” Damian said, he wasn’t asking just stating a fact.

“Yes.”

“Me too, I feel like I have to redeem myself from all that I have done.”

“You didn’t know any better.”

“It’s not an excuse.”

“You’re way too hard on yourself.”

“So are you.”

“True.”

We stayed there in silence for a while.

“How about Nightwing,” I said suddenly.

“For you or me?”

“Me, I don’t know why but you give me a robin vibe.”

“Ptch as if I’d wear those shorts, how could you even kick in those things without showing everything.”

“Practice, so you think that’s a good name?”

“Nightwing?” he sat there pondering over it a bit.

“Yeah, yeah I like it,” he said.

*knock knock*

“Excuse me mistress Diana and master Damian but dinner is ready,” said Alfred from the outside.

“Coming!” I said.

I pulled Damian out the door and into our new life, finally I was home it wasn’t just a memory. And I’m looking forward to make new memories with my new family and no one will take them away from me ever again!

I am Diana.

I am Ricky Grayson, daughter of the flying Graysons.

I am the first robin.

I am a talon.

I am Diana.

I am Nightwing!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this story guys! Be sure to check out my other fics! Fagirlingbrony out!


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